Binary position sensitive detector with multiple rows of alternating types of photocells

ABSTRACT

The present invention consists of a photocell array to determine the cross-scan position of a laser beam. The array consists of multiple rows of elongated photocells oriented perpendicular to the main scan direction of the laser beam with each row of photocells representing one bit of data. Furthermore, each row consists of alternating types of photocells, one type representing a logic 1 and the other type representing a logic 0. As the laser beam crosses this array, it energizes certain photocells on each row such that its output is a binary number that identifies the position at which the laser beam crosses the array. To improve the accuracy of the binary output, the pitch between the photocells of each row should not be reduced to less than 1/4 of the width of the laser beam. If greater accuracy is needed, the photocells should be offset while keeping the pitch between the photocells constant at a pitch not less than 1/4 of the width of the laser beam.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

This invention relates generally to a design of a binary positionsensor, and more specifically, to an apparatus for determining theposition of a laser beam at a resolution which is smaller than the laserbeam size.

Traditionally, photo sensors are used for different purposes, such asmeasuring angle, distance, height, centering, surface uniformity andother parameters related to position sensing. One of the most usedapplications of photo sensors is monitoring the displacement of a paththat a scanning beam covers in reference to a line to be scanned.

Different sensors use a grating with binary format apertures, as shownin FIG. 1, either on a rectangular plate 10 or a circular disk (notshown) for measuring parameters related to position sensing or formeasuring the rotation angle or the number of rotations. The apertures12 on the grating tracks t₁, t₂ and t₃ provide a passage for the lightand the nontransparent segments 14 (the areas between the apertures oneach track) block the light from passing through. By placing a lightsource 16 on one side of the grating plate or the grating disk, thelight emitted from the light source passes only through the apertures12. On the opposite side of the grating plate or the grating disk, wherethere is an aperture 12 there is light and where there is nontransparentsegment 14 there is darkness. The light and the darkness can be sensedby having one sensor for each grating track. The grating plate 10 movesin X--X direction. Therefore, the light sensors 18, 20 and 22 receivelight or darkness depending on if they are positioned behind an aperture12 or behind a nontransparent segment 14. In the example shown in FIG.1, the light sensors 18 and 20 which receive the light generate anelectric signal representing logic 1 and the sensor 22 which is in darkstays inactive representing logic 0. By reading out the outputs of thesensors with each sensor representing one binary bit, the binaryposition of the plate or the angle of rotation is determined.

The above apparatus does not have a high resolution. In order to improvethe resolution, the number of the grating tracks should be increased andin each grating track the number of apertures should also be increased.The problem arises when the apertures and the nontransparent segmentsbecome smaller than the width of the light or the laser beam, shown inFIG. 2. In this case, if the peak N--N of the Gaussian distribution 25of the light beam happens to be on a nontransparent segment 14, but thebeam size extends over onto the adjacent aperture 12, instead of readingout a logic 0 for darkness 26, a logic 1 for light 28 passing throughaperture 12 is read out. Therefore, increasing the number of gratingtracks and the number of apertures is not an effective way of improvingthe resolution.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of this invention to improve the resolution of thebinary sensors of the prior art by replacing the apertures and thenontransparent segments by alternate photocells to sense a light beam atany position. A binary photo position sensor of this invention consistsof an array of elongated photocells oriented perpendicular to the mainscan direction of a light beam with each row of photocells representingone bit of data. To represent logic 1 and logic 0, each row consists ofalternating types of photocells A and B, type A representing a logic 0and type B representing a logic 1. In each row, all the photocells ofthe same group are connected to each other. By comparing the outputs ofthe two types of photocells on each row, the logic value represented bythat row is determined.

It is another object of this invention to further improve the resolutionof the binary photo sensors by keeping the pitch of the alternatephotocells to a size of not less than 1/4 of the width (Gaussiandistribution±3σ) of the light or laser beam and improve the resolutionby offsetting the rows of photocells. To avoid reducing the pitch of thephotocells to less than 1/4 of the width of the light beam, certainnumber of rows (the number of rows depend on the resolution of that bit)are assigned to a group and each group is assigned to a bit. Inaddition, the center of each row is offset a predetermined distance fromthe center of the scanning region. Offsetting the rows of photocellswhile keeping the pitch constant has the effect of reducing the pitch.Finally, by comparing the outputs of each group of photocells, the logicvalue represented by that group is determined.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a view of a prior art binary grating plate;

FIG. 2 illustrates a prior art problem when the width of the laser beamis greater than apertures and the none transparent segments;

FIG. 3 is a view of a binary photo position sensor;

FIG. 4 is a magnified view of a portion of the binary photo positionsensor of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a logic design for receiving the electric energy from the rowsof photocells and converting them to a Binary output;

FIG. 6 is an example of the energy received by photocells with a pitchsmaller than 1/4 of the laser beam width from the Gaussian distributionof a laser beam;

FIG. 7 is an example of the energy received by photocells with a pitchapproximately equal to 1/4 of the laser beam width from the Gaussiandistribution of a laser beam;

FIG. 8A is a look-up table of Grey code for five bits;

FIG. 8B is a magnified portion of the binary photo position sensor ofFIG. 3 corresponding to a magnified portion of FIG. 8A;

FIG. 9 is a modification of rows r'₅ and r"₅ where the photocells aresubstantially smaller than the pitch between the photocells;

FIG. 9A is another modification showing rows r'₅ and r"₅ of FIG. 9Acombined into one row;

FIG. 10 is a view showing the distribution of the background light on arow representative of all rows except for the first row of the binaryphoto position sensor;

FIG. 10A is a view showing the distribution of the background light onthe first row of the binary photo position sensor;

FIG. 11 is a view showing the Gaussian distribution of the laser beamsensor on photocells with a pitch approximately equal to 1/4 of thelaser beam width at the edge of the scanning region and in the borderregion;

FIG. 11A is a view showing the Gaussian distribution of the laser beamsensor on photocells with a pitch greater than 1/2 of the laser beamwidth at the edge of the scanning region and in the border region; and

FIG. 12 is an example of converting a Grey output to a Binary output.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

According to FIG. 3, there is shown a binary photo position sensor 30which consists of an array of r₁, r₂, r₃, r₄, r'₅ and r"₅ of elongatedphotocells oriented perpendicular to the main scan direction Z--Z of alaser beam with each row of photocells representing one bit of dataexcept row r'₅ and r"₅ which will be discussed in detail further on. Thephotocell array 30 covers an area between C and H having separatesegments: EF as the scanning region, DE and FG as the borders andfinally CD and GH as the background light compensating regions.

To represent logic 1 and logic 0, each row consists of alternating typesof photocells A and B; type A representing a logic 0 and type Brepresenting a logic 1. In each row, all the photocells of the samegroup are connected to each other as shown in FIG. 4. Therefore, eachrow has two outputs: A₁ and B₁ for the first row r₁, A₂ and B₂ for thesecond row r₂, A₃ and B₃ for the third row r₃, A₄ and B₄ for the fourthrow r₄, A'₅ and B'₅ for the fifth row r'₅ and A"₅ and B"₅ for the sixthrow r"₅. Referring to FIG. 5, for each row there is a comparator tocompare the outputs of groups B and A for determining the logic value(in Grey format) represented by that row, except for rows r₅ ' and r₅ ". Comparators 40, 42, 44 and 46 are dedicated to rows r₁, r₂, r₃ and r₄,respectively, and they compare B₁ to A₁, B₂ to A₂, B₃ to A₃ and B₄ to A₄respectively and send out the the Grey logic values of rows r₁, r₂, r₃and r₄ on Bit1 and on output lines 52, 54 and 56 respectively.Comparators 48 and 50 compare the outputs of groups A and B of rows r₅ 'and r₅ " respectively and send out the results on output lines 58 and 60to an exclusive OR 68 to combine the results from rows r₅ ' and r₅ " inorder to generate the Grey logic value of Bit5 on output line 70.Exclusive ORs 62, 64, 66 and 72 are used to convert the Grey logic valueto a binary logic value and send out the binary result on Bit2, Bit3,Bit4 and Bit5. There is no need to use an exclusive OR for Bit1 which isthe most significant bit since the most significant bit of the binaryformat is the same as the most significant bit of the Grey format.

Referring back to FIG. 4, the first row r₁ has two long photocells A₁₁and B₁₁, each having a length within the scanning region EF which isslightly less than half of the width W of the scanning region EF. Thereis a gap between the two photocells A₁₁ and B₁₁ and the center of thegap is located on line M--M (line passing through the center of scanningregion). The gap size should not be larger than the width of the laserbeam. If the gap size is designed to be larger than the laser beam size,then the laser beam passes through the gap without energizing either ofthe photocells A₁₁ and B₁₁.

Starting with the second row, each row, except the rows that are offset(r'₅ and r"₅), has a photocell centered on line M--M. For example, rowr₂ has B₂₁ centered on line M--M and has a pitch P₂ (the distancebetween the center of a gap to the center of the following gap) equal toW/2. In the following rows the pitch is reduced to half of the pitch ofthe previous row. Row r₃ has a pitch P₃ equal to P₂ /2 and row r₄ has apitch P₄ equal to P₃ /2.

There is a limit in reducing the pitch. The pitch should not be reducedto less than 1/4 of the width of the laser beam. Of course, with VLSItechnology it is possible to make photocells smaller than 1/4 of thewidth of the laser beam, but for better resolution the pitch should notbe reduced to less than 1/4 of the width of the laser beam. The reasonfor not reducing the pitch to less than 1/4 of the width of the laserbeam is that when the pitch is reduced to smaller segments, the amountof light energy received by each photocell is close to the amount ofenergy received by the adjacent photocells. In other words, as shown inFIG. 6, there is only a slight difference between the amount of energy80, 82, 84, 86 and 88 collected on the adjacent photocells A_(m1),B_(m1), A_(m2), B_(m2) and A_(m3) which is hard to detect. For example,there is only a small difference between the amount of energy 82received by photocell B_(m1) and the amount of energy 80 and 84 receivedby the photocells A_(m1) and A_(m2) respectively which are adjacent toB_(m1). On the contrary, if the pitch P_(n), as shown in FIG. 7, is keptat 1/4 of the width W_(LB) of the laser beam, the difference between theamount of energy collected by the adjacent photocells is large andtherefore, it is easier to detect. When the pitch is kept at 1/4 of thewidth of the laser beam, the photocells can be either short or long. Asit is obvious from the illustration, it does not make any difference ifthe photocells are short or long since the difference between the amountof energy 94 and 96 received by the adjacent short photocells A_(r1) andB_(r1) or the difference between the amount of energy 90 and 92 receivedby the adjacent long photocells A_(p1) and B_(p1) is large enough to bedetected.

Since the pitch can not be reduced to less than 1/4 of the width of thelaser beam, in order to improve the resolution further, the pitch iskept constant and the photocells are offset. By offsetting the row ofphotocells while keeping the pitch constant, the effect of reducing thepitch can be achieved. For the purpose of clarity, a magnified portionof FIG. 3 and also a magnified portion 98 of FIG. 8A (Grey Code) areshown together in 8B. As it is illustrated in FIG. 8B, rows r₃ and r₄correspond to rows j₃ and j₄ respectively. Rows r'₅ and r"₅ combinedtogether correspond to row j₅. Also, the A cells correspond to logic 0and the B cells correspond to logic 1. Comparing r₃, r₄, r'₅ and r"₅ toj₃, j₄ and j₅, it is obvious that A₃₂ corresponds to eight 0s on j₃ andA₄₃ and B₄₄ correspond to four 0s and four 1s on j₄, respectively, whichis the reason for r₄ having a pitch P₄ equal to P₃ /2. By the sametoken, the photocells on the row which should represent j₅ shouldcorrespond to two 1s or two 0s of j₅ and therefore, should have a pitchP₅ equal to P₄ /2. Since the pitch P₄ of row r₄ is equal to 1/4 of thelaser beam width, the pitch P₅ can not be reduced any further. As aresult, the pitch P₅ is kept equal to P₄.

In order to keep the pitch P₅ equal to P₄, two rows of photocells r'₅and r"₅ are needed and each row has to be offset to produce the logicshown on row j₅. By comparing the outputs of r'₅ and r"₅, where a lightbeam crosses a photocell in row r'₅ and a photocell in row r"₅ whichbelong to the same cell group (either group A or group B) the output islogic 0 and where the cells belong to different groups, the output islogic 1. For example, when the laser beam crosses A'₅₃ and A"₅₃ or itcrosses B'₅₃ and B"₅₃ the output is logic 0 or when the laser beamcrosses A'₅₃ and B"₅₃ or it crosses B'₅₄ and A"₅₃ the output is logic 1.

Referring back to FIG. 3, it should be noted that, due to offsetting therow of photocells, there is no symmetry on rows r'₅ and r"₅ with respectto line M--M, but there is a symmetry with respect to the center of therow which is at the center of the middle photocells A'₅₃ and A"₅₃ (FIG.3).

To improve the resolution even more, four rows of photocells should beused to represent the following bit Bit6 (not shown) and eight rows ofphotocells to represent Bit7 (not shown). Of course depending on thewidth W of the scanning region EF and the width of the laser beam,reducing the pitch to 1/4 of the laser beam can happen on differentrows. For example, for a scanning region of 2048 microns with a laserbeam width of 108 microns (Full Width Half Max=42 microns), reducing thepitch size to a pitch close to 1/4 of the width of the laser beamhappens on row 7 which represents Bit7 and if a resolution of 9 bits isrequired 6 more rows should be added: two rows for Bit8 and four morerows for Bit9. All together, thirteen rows are needed. With thisarrangement a resolution of 4 micron is achieved.

In view of the above and in view of reducing the pitch of each row tohalf of the pitch of the preceding row and also in view of keeping thepitch greater than 1/4 of the width of the laser beam, it follows thatthe pitch on each row is reduced to 1/2 of the pitch of the precedingrow until the pitch becomes less than 1/2 and greater than 1/4 of thelaser beam size. At this range, the pitch is kept constant. Therefore,if the pitch of a row is equal to or greater than 1/2 of the laser beamsize that pitch will be reduced by half to generate the pitch for thenext row which falls in the range of less than 1/2 and greater than 1/4of the laser beam size. The pitch for all subsequent rows is keptconstant and such rows will be offset with one another and with allpreceding rows.

In order to make a compact array, the photocells of rows r'₅ and r"₅ canbe designed to be short enough to be placed on one row while keeping thepitch equal to 1/4 of the width of the laser beam. According to FIG. 9,which for simplicity shows only a portion of row r₅ ' and a portion ofrow r₅ ", the photocells B'₅₂, A'₅₃, B'₅₃, A'₅₄, B"₅₂, A"₅₃, B"₅₃ andA"₅₄ can be designed to be smaller than the gap size. Of course, thephotocells should not be smaller than 2 to 4 microns since they looseaccuracy. For example, with a beam width of 100 microns, the pitch is 25microns and the cell length L_(c) can be designed to be 10 microns whichleaves a gap size L_(g) of 15 microns. Having the cell lengths L_(c)shorter than the gap size L_(g) provides the possibility of placing thecells from row r"₅ in between the cells of row r'₅ as shown in FIG. 9A.Placing the cells from both rows r'₅ and r"₅ on one row does not affectthe read out since the connection between the cells is kept the same.Therefore, the outputs A'₅, B'₅, A"₅ and B"₅ of FIG. 9A are the same asthe outputs A'₅, B'₅, A"₅ and B"₅ of FIG. 9. Of course, it has to beunderstood that the pitch between the photocells of FIG. 9A is 1/8 ofthe laser beam size but the pitch between the photocells of each groupis still kept at 1/4 of the laser beam size. For example, the pitchbetween B'₅₂ and B"₅₂ is 1/8 of the laser beam size but the pitchbetween B'₅₂ and A'₅₃ or the pitch between B"₅₂ and A"₅₃ are 1/4 of thelaser beam size.

The photo binary sensor of this invention is also designed to cancel theeffect of the background light. Referring to FIG. 10, the backgroundlight has more intensity on one side and less intensity on the otherside as illustrated on graph S₁ S₂ S₃ S₄. The intensity of light on theS₁ S₂ side is more than the intensity of the light on the S₃ S₄ side. Ofcourse, the distribution of the intensity of the background light can bethe opposite of what is shown in FIG. 10, but for the purpose of clarityhereinafter, the distribution shown on FIG. 10 is discussed. Thedistribution of background light for each row of photocells has twocomponents: a uniform component shown as MLJQ and a nonuniform componentshown as LNPJ. The uniform component MLJQ has a uniform intensity of a₀which is the average light shining on the photocells on that row. Thenonuniform component LNPJ theoretically has a negative intensity of -a₁at LN and moving away from LN towards point K (the point which isaligned with the center T_(n) of the row r'_(n)), the negative intensitydecreases and at point K the intensity becomes zero. Moving away frompoint K towards PJ, the intensity is positive and it increases as itapproaches PJ and at PJ the nonuniform component LNPJ has an intensityof +a₁. As it is shown in FIG. 10, adding the uniform component MLJQ tothe nonuniform component LNPJ results in the background light.

To cancel out any background light effects on the sensors, the array isdesigned so there is symmetry for each row about its center or, in otherwords, equal areas of logic zero sensors on each side of the center areequal distances away from the center and equal areas of logic onesensors on each side of the center are equal distances away from thecenter. For example, the center of B_(n2) and the center of B_(n3) areequal distances from line K--K or the center of A_(n1) and the center ofA_(n3) are equal distance from line K--K. Also, the center of A_(n2) onthe left side of line K--K and the center of A_(n2) on the right side ofline K--K are equal distances from line K--K. Since there is a symmetryon either side of the center T_(n) of the row r'_(n), the positiveenergy received by the photocells A_(n2), B_(n3), A_(n3) and B_(n4) onthe right side of point T_(n) is equal to the negative energy receivedby the photocells A_(n2), B_(n2), A_(n1) and B_(n1) on the left side ofpoint T_(n). As a result, the effect of nonuniform component iscanceled. Except for the first row r₁ of FIG. 3, the symmetrical axis ofeach row is at the center T_(n) of the middle photocell. Thus, thenonuniform component for all the rows, except for the first row r₁, isautomatically canceled. For the first row r₁, as shown in FIG. 10A, thecenter T₁ of the row falls into the gap between the two photocells.Therefore, photocell A₁₁ receives the negative energy and the photocellB₁₁ receives the positive energy. To cancel the effect of this twoopposite energies, an opposite photocell of sufficient area is added toeach end A_(1c) and B_(1c) to add positive energy to group A andnegative energy to group B for canceling the effect of nonuniformcomponent LNPJ.

Referring back to FIG. 10, to cancel the effect of the uniform componentMLJQ, the area of the photocells of opposite groups on each row shouldbe equal. When the background light shines on two groups of photocellswhich have equal photocell areas, each group of photocells receive anequal amount of energy. Therefore, when the energy of the two groups arecompared to each other the equal energy from the background lightgenerated on each group is canceled out. As it is shown, row r'_(n) hasfour photocells from group B (B_(n1), B_(n2), B_(n3) and B_(n4)) andthree photocells from group A (A_(n1), A_(n2) and A_(n3)). Consequently,one photocell from group A has to be added to row r'_(n), but sincethere is a symmetrical requirement to cancel the nonuniform componentLNPJ, the extra photocell has to be divided into half and each halfA_(nR) and A_(nL) be placed at each end, as shown on row r_(n). For rowr₁, as shown in FIG. 10A, the area of the two photocells A₁₁ and B₁₁ areequal and also the area of the two compensating photocells A_(1c) andB_(1c) are equal. Therefore, the total area of group A is equal to thetotal area of group B which automatically cancels the effect of theuniform component MLJQ.

Referring back to FIG. 3, the ending photocells A₁₁, B₁₁, A₂₁, A₂₂, A₃₁and A₃₃ of the top rows r₁, r₂ and r₃ are extended to the edge G and Dof the border regions DE and FG in order to sense the laser beam at theedge. Starting with row r₄ and thereafter, instead of extending theending photocells the alternate pattern of the photocells is repeated.As it is shown in FIG. 11, the photocells on row r'₄ are so small that aGaussian distribution of a laser beam covers several photocells on thesame row. Extending the ending photocell A₄₅ to the end of the boarderregion FG can cause an error in the read out. If the peak Y-Y of theGaussian distribution 75 of laser beam crosses the photocell B₄₄ next tothe ending photocell A'₄₅, the photocells A₄₄, B₄₄ and A'₄₅ receive theenergies shown under curves 100, 102 and 104 respectively. As it isobvious, the total energy received by the photocells A₄₄ and A'₄₅ ismore than the energy received by the photocell B₄₄ which is a wrong readout. Since the peak Y-Y of the laser beam is on the photocell B₄₄, theenergy received by the photocell B₄₄ should be more than the energyreceived by the A photocells.

To solve the above problem, instead of extending the ending photocellsto the end of the border region FG, the alternate pattern of thephotocells should be repeated, as shown on row r₄. Having the alternatepattern continued into the border region FG guarantees a correct readout. If the peak Y-Y of the Gaussian distribution 75 of laser beamcrosses B₄₄, the photocells A₄₄, B₄₄, A₄₅ and B₄₅ receive the energiesshown under curves 100, 102, 106 and 108 respectively. By using thearrangement shown on row r₄, the total energy received by the Aphotocells is less than the integral energy received by the Bphotocells. Of course, on the top rows r₁, r₂ and r₃, the above problemdoes not exist. As shown in FIG. 11A, when the photocells are long,extending the ending cell A₃₃ of row r₃ to the end of the border regionFG does not have any effect on the read out. If the peak Y-Y of thelaser beam 75 crosses the photocell B₃₂ which is next to the endingphotocell A₃₃, as it is obvious, the energy 110 received by thephotocell B₃₂ is larger than the energy received by the photocell A₃₃.Therefore extending the ending photocell A₃₃ does not generate any wrongread out.

Referring back to FIG. 3, in operation, the laser beam crosses thebinary photocell array in the direction of Z-Z. As the laser beamcrosses the binary photocell array, it energizes one or multiplephotocells on each row. Depending on if the concentration of energy ison the photocells from group A or group B, one of these two groups ofphotocells A or B collects more energy. The comparator for each rowcompares the outputs of groups A and B to determine the Grey logic valuerepresented by that row. Referring to FIG. 5, the outputs of thecomparators 40, 42, 44 and 46 and the output of the exclusive OR 68, onBit1 and the output lines 52, 54, 56 and 70, respectively, represent aGrey number which identifies the position at which the laser beamcrosses the photocell array. As an example, the laser beam crossing thephotocell array 30 of FIG. 3 in the direction of Z-Z, generates a Greyoutput of (01001) which is equivalent to binary (01110).

The outputs of these comparators 40, 42, 44 and 46 and the output of theexclusive OR 68 which represent a Grey number must be converted into abinary number. In converting the Grey format to the binary format, thebinary logic value of each bit is the determining factor of the binarylogic value of the following bit. Every time the binary value of a bitis 0, the Grey logic value of the following bit should be kept as thebinary logic value of the following bit and every time the binary logicvalue of a bit is 1, the Grey logic value of the following bit should beinverted to produce a binary logic value for the following bit.Exclusive ORs 62, 64, 66 and 72 are used to convert the Grey format to abinary format by comparing the binary logic value of the previous bit tothe current Grey bit and produce the binary logic for that bit. There isno need to use an exclusive OR for the most significant bit since Bit1of the binary format is the same as the Bit1 of the Grey format.

For example, the Grey output (10111), as shown in FIG. 12, is convertedto binary format by considering the most significant bit which has thesame logic value for Grey and binary format. Therefore, Bit1 has a logicvalue of 1 both for Grey and for Binary. Since in this example, Bit1 is1 the Grey logic value of the Bit2 should be inverted to generate thebinary logic value of that Bit2 so 0 should be inverted to 1. The binaryvalue of Bit2 which is 1 indicates that the Grey logic value of the Bit3which is 1 should be inverted to produce the binary logic value of theBit3. The binary value of Bit3 which is 0 indicates that the Grey logicvalue of the Bit4 which is 1 should be kept as the binary logic value ofthe Bit4. Finally, the binary value of Bit4 which is 1 indicates thatthe Grey logic value of the Bit5 which is 1 should be inverted toproduce the binary logic value of the Bit5. Therefore, the binary logicvalue of this example is 11010.

This invention solves the aforementioned problem of the prior artregarding the improvement of the resolution. By replacing the aperturesand the nontransparent segments of the prior art with alternatephotocells, the light can be sensed at any position. Also, by notreducing the pitch of the photocells to less than 1/4 of the width ofthe beam and by offsetting the rows of photocells a higher resolution (afraction of the width of a laser beam) can be achieved. By utilizing themethod of offsetting the rows rather than reducing the pitch size, onecan design a high resolution sensor to sense wider beams. An additionaladvantage of this embodiment is the built-in background lightcompensation. The compensating photocells of each row cancel the effectof the background light on each row to produce substantially error freeread out of the position of the laser beam.

I claim:
 1. A position detector for a scanning beam comprising:a. ascanning region; b. a beam energy sensor arrangement within saidscanning region; c. said sensor arrangement comprising a plurality ofrows of sensors; d. each row of sensors being arranged transverse to thedirection of scan of a beam and in end to end relationship from one endof the scanning region to the opposite end of said scanning region; e. agap between adjacent ends of said sensors in each row; f. each rowhaving more than one gap in said scanning region having a pitch definedas the distance between the center of each gap within said scanningregion and the center of a respective adjacent gap within said scanningregion; h. the first row of sensors having at least one logic zerosensor and at least one logic one sensor, means for outputting the logicof the at least one logic zero sensor as a single logic zero output andfor outputting the logic of the at least logic one sensor as a singlelogic one output, means for comparing the logic zero and logic oneoutputs of the first row of sensors and outputting either a logic zeroor logic one output, whichever exhibits a greater beam energy value; i.each row following the first row having at least two sensorsrepresenting the same given logic value and at least one sensorrepresenting the opposite logic value, means for outputting the logicvalue of the at least two sensors as a single logic output, and meansfor outputting the logic value of the at least one sensor as a singlelogic output, and means for comparing the logic zero and logic oneoutputs of each row of sensors following the first row and outputtingeither a logic zero or logic one output for a respective row, whicheverexhibits a greater beam energy value; j. the sensors of each said rowbeing arranged in alternating logic order; k. a first group of saidplurality of rows having a pitch of one half a scanning beam width orgreater; l. a second group of said plurality of rows following saidfirst group of rows having a pitch substantially equal to or greaterthan one fourth a scanning beam width but less than one half a scanningbeam width; m. the comparison logic output for each of said first groupof rows and the comparison logic output for the first row of said secondgroup of rows representing a bit of information for each respective row;n. the second row of said second group of rows and the third row of saidsecond group of rows being offset relative to one another and the otherpreceeding rows; n. means for comparing said logic output of the secondrow of said second group of rows with the third row of said second groupof rows and outputting either a logic zero or logic one output,depending upon if the comparison matches or is different; and o. thecomparison logic output for the second and third rows representing a bitof information.
 2. A position detector for a scanning beam comprising:a.a scanning region; b. a beam energy sensor arrangement within saidscanning region; c. said sensor arrangement comprising a plurality ofrows of sensors; d. each row of sensors being arranged transverse to thedirection of scan of a beam and in end to end relationship from one endof the scanning region to the opposite end of said scanning region; e. agap between adjacent ends of said sensors in each row; f. a group ofrows of said plurality of rows; g. each row of said group of rows havingmore than one gap in the scanning region having a pitch defined as thedistance between the center of each gap within said scanning region andthe center of a respective adjacent gap within said scanning region; h.the first row of said group of rows of sensors having at least one logiczero sensor and at least one logic one sensor, means for outputting thelogic of the at least one logic zero sensor as a single logic zerooutput and for outputting the logic of the at least one logic one sensoras a single one logic output, means for comparing the logic zero andlogic one outputs of the first row of sensors and outputting either alogic zero or logic one output, whichever exhibits a greater beam energyvalue; i. each row of said group of rows following said first row havingat least two sensors representing the same given logic value and atleast one sensor representing the opposite logic value, means foroutputting the logic value of the at least two sensors as a single logicoutput, and means for outputting the logic of the at least one sensor asa single logic output, and means for comparing the logic zero and logicone outputs of each row of sensors following the first row andoutputting either a logic zero or logic one output for a respective row,whichever exhibits a greater beam energy value for a respective row; j.the sensors of each row of said group of rows being arranged inalternating logic order; k. said group of rows having a pitch of onehalf a scanning beam width or greater and at least one row having apitch substantially equal to or greater than one quarter of a beam widthbut less than one half a scanning beam width; l. a row of said pluralityof rows following said group of rows, said last named row having twogroups of sensors, each group of sensors having a plurality of logiczero sensors and logic one sensors; m. the sensors of the one group ofsensors being arranged in alternating logic order with each other andthe sensors of the other group of sensors being arranged in alternatinglogic order with each other; n. said last named row having a pluralityof logic zero subgroups of sensors and logic one subgroups of sensorsbeing arranged in alternating order with each other, each zero logicsubgroup comprising a logic zero sensor from each of said group ofsensors and each logic one subgroup comprising a logic one sensor fromeach of said group of sensors; o. the pitch of said last named row beingsubstantially equal to or greater than one eighth a scanning beam widthbut less than one quarter a scanning beam width with the pitch for saidlast named row being defined as the distance between the center of eachgap within said scanning region between two adjacent sensors and thecenter of a respective adjacent gap within said scanning region; p. thecomparison logic output for each of said group of rows representing abit of information for each respective row; q. means for comparing thelogic zero and logic one outputs of each group of sensors and outputtingeither a logic zero or logic one output for a respective group,whichever exhibits a greater beam energy value for a respective group ofsensors; and r. means for comparing said logic output of each group ofsensors with each other and outputting either a logic zero or logic oneoutput, depending upon if the comparison matches or is different, thecomparison logic output for said group of sensors representing a bit ofinformation for said last named row.
 3. In a position detector for ascanning beam wherein the detector comprises a beam energy sensorarrangement within a scanning region and comprises a plurality of rowsof sensors with each row of sensors being arranged transverse to thedirection of scan of a beam and in end to end relationship from one endof the scanning region to the opposite end of said scanning region, saidposition detector including:a. two rows of sensors; b. each said row ofsensors having a plurality of logic zero sensors and a plurality oflogic one sensors being arranged in alternating logic order; c. a gapbetween adjacent ends of said sensors in each row; d. each row having apitch defined as the distance between the center of each gap within saidscanning region and the center of a respective adjacent gap within saidscanning region; e. each said row having a pitch substantially equal toor greater than one fourth a scanning beam width but less than one halfa scanning beam width; f. said rows being offset relative to one anotherand to other preceeding rows; g. means for outputting the logic of thelogic zero sensors of the same row as a single logic zero output and foroutputting the logic of the logic one sensors of the same row as asingle logic one output, means for comparing the zero and one outputs ofthe same row of sensors and outputting either a logic zero or logic oneoutput, whichever exhibits a greater beam energy value for a respectiverow; h. means for comparing said logic output of said two rows andoutputting either a logic zero or logic one output depending upon if thecomparison matches or is different; and i. the comparison logic outputfor said rows representing a bit of information.
 4. In a positiondetector for a scanning beam wherein the detector comprises a beamenergy sensor arrangement within a scanning region and comprises aplurality of rows of sensors with each row of sensors being arrangedtransverse to the direction of scan of a beam and in end to endrelationship from one end of the scanning region to the opposite end ofsaid scanning region, said position detector including:a. a row ofsensors; b. said row having two groups of sensors, each group of sensorshaving a plurality of logic zero sensors and a plurality of logic onesensors; c. the sensors of said one group of sensors being arranged inalternating logic order with each other and the sensors of the othergroup of sensors being arranged in alternating logic order with eachother; d. said row having a plurality of logic zero subgroups of sensorsand logic one subgroups of sensors being arranged in alternating orderwith each other, each zero logic subgroup comprising a logic zero sensorfrom each of said group of sensors and each logic one subgroupcomprising a logic one sensor from each of said group of sensors; e. agap between adjacent ends of said sensors in said row; f. said rowhaving a pitch defined as the distance between the center of each gapwithin said scanning region and the center of a respective adjacent gapwithin said scanning region; g. said row having a pitch substantiallyequal to or greater than one eighth a scanning beam width but less thanone fourth a scanning beam width; h. means for outputting the logic ofthe logic zero sensors of the same group as a single logic zero outputfor its respective group and for outputting the logic of the logic onesensors of the same group as a single logic one output for itsrespective group, means for comparing the logic zero and logic oneoutputs of the same group of sensors and outputting either a logic zeroor logic one output for its respective group, whichever exhibits agreater beam energy value for a respective group; h. means for comparingsaid logic output of said two groups and outputting either a logic zeroor logic one output depending upon if the comparison matches or isdifferent; and i. the comparison logic output for said groupsrepresenting a bit of information.